We explained recently that this year’s run-up to the trade deadline has been among the quietest in recent memory. We have seen several swaps since, but the most significant players to change hands — Trevor Bauer (Reds) and Marcus Stroman (Mets) — didn’t even land with prime contenders. With the deadline just hours away, numerous clubs in obvious position to strike for the postseason still have unmet needs.
[RELATED: Top 75 Trade Candidates At The Deadline]
Here are a few of the possible target areas for the game’s contenders. Not all will be fulfilled, while other creative swaps will be struck. But these are the general areas that stand out:
Clear Contenders
- Astros: rotation upgrade; bullpen upgrade/left-handed depth; catching upgrade
- Athletics: rotation upgrade; bullpen depth; second base upgrade
- Braves: rotation upgrade; bullpen upgrade; corner outfielder
- Brewers: rotation upgrade/depth; first base upgrade; shortstop upgrade
- Cardinals: rotation upgrade/depth; bullpen upgrade/depth; center field upgrade
- Cubs: lineup upgrade (outfield/second base); left-handed reliever
- Dodgers: bullpen upgrade
- Indians: rotation depth; second base upgrade
- Nationals: multiple bullpen upgrades/depth; rotation depth
- Phillies: rotation upgrade; third base and/or outfield upgrade; bullpen upgrade/depth
- Rays: rotation and/or bullpen upgrade; right-handed DH/corner OF bat
- Red Sox: bullpen upgrade/depth
- Twins: rotation and/or bullpen upgrade
- Yankees: rotation upgrade; bullpen upgrade; first base insurance?
Uncertain Contenders
- Angels: rotation upgrade/depth
- Diamondbacks: rotation upgrade/depth
- Giants: second base upgrade; outfield upgrade
- Mets: bullpen depth; shortstop/center field upgrade
- Reds: bullpen upgrade; second base upgrade
The brewers rotation doesn’t need an upgrade, they have an overflowing amount of depth. Did anyone watch Houser last night? Absolute stud.
No they do… they have countless number 4 starters
Brewer rotation is meh. It has been a meh for a while. Their strength was their pen and offense.
Brewers needs bullpen upgrades way before they’d need a SS upgrade.
As a Brave fan, rotation and bullpen is a need, a corner outfielder not so much, I’d rather them concentrate on the pitching. The pen gave up six runs in two innings last night.
agreed….last few series the only games we’re winning if we score 8+ runs. That’s going to be hard to do in playoffs
Looks like the braves/nats will be fighting for the same arms.
100%
Neat idea for an article! Thanks! I hope the Braves don’t actually trade for an OF unless it’s a steal. They have depth, even with Markakis injured. I know some don’t, but I have faith in Duvall if he is an everyday player. I think what killed him last year was inconsistent playing time
I think Atlanta doesn’t make an OF move unless it’s for a legit power bat, but who of that caliber is available? Unless they’re planning for 2019 & 2020, and not bringing Markakis back as a starter.
I think pitching is more important for Atlanta.
I agree with Duvall being markedly better if he’s an everyday player. At the least should hit .240 with power down the stretch
yeah he never seemed to be a bench type player…I hope they give him a legit chance to stay lineup consistently
I agree with you – They DO NOT need an outfielder. Duvall has been doing well and he is an above average defender. Inciarte’s bat is heating up since he came back from the IL and his defense is back to great, and Acuna can play any of the OF positions. There is no reason to look for or trade for OF. We need pitching, pitching, pitching. Would like to see one more BP piece (maybe 2 and cut our loses with Minter) and at least one more Starter.
The Reds are 6.5 games out of the Wild Card, 8 games out of first place. How can they even be considered contenders? I mean, FFS, the Mets are ahead of them in the Wild Card race.
With 57 games left, 6.5 games is not a lot – especially in a crowded race.
6.5 games is not a lot when you have 1 team in front of you in a divisional race, but when there is 7 teams in front of you its much less likely.
In general, that’s true. I think any team on the margins needs to look at specifics regarding their own team and the teams ahead of them. What level of play is sustainable and what is not? Given the roster and the schedule, who can get to, say 87 wins, and for whom is 81 to 84 probably the ceiling? On top of that, is investing in a run that is unlikely to succeed worth it in ticket sales, concessions, and TV ratings?
I included them because they just traded for Bauer. So … who knows what they’ll do?
Slowest trade season I’ve ever seen. Teams not making playoffs have been most active which is strange but kinda cool in guess….I dunno maybe not lol
New rules in place, I think, will take it down to the wire (today) and you’ll see some action.
Not really sure how SS is a position of need for the Mets. Rosario isn’t going anywhere. They’re committed to him. They also have Jed Lowrie on the books for next year.
There’s talk of the Mets moving Rosario to center field.
Oh, hadn’t heard that. Thanks. Kind of an odd choice to move him there, but even as a Mets fan, I can’t figure out what they’re doing half the time.
Don’t sweat it. Even as the Mets GM, Brodie can’t figure out they’re doing half the time.
A lot of people have been upset about it, but I am very happy to see more teams trying to win/trying not to do a major sell-off in hopes of winning in 2020. It has been less action at the deadline, but I think it is great for the game to have fans be able to keep watching passed July because their team is still competitive. As a lowly Mets fan, the games still feel meaningful and it’s fun to stay interested (even if they are 4 games under .500) Ya gotta believe!
Mets are now 11-4 in their last fifteen and three of those losses were walk-offs in extra innings. Their upcoming schedule is favorable as well (White Sox, Pirates, Marlins).
Do the Yankees really need help at 1st? Voit, Encarnacion, Lemahieu, and in case of emergency Romine
Encarnacion is pretty much a full time DH, voit just got placed on the IL, lemahieu is hurt right now too, and do you really want Austin romine as your everyday first baseman?
Todd Frazier (3B/1B) is available and won’t cost much. Once Voit comes back Frazier comes off the bench. #ToddFather back on NYY
The Yankees can pick up Lucas Duda to help out at 1st.
A’s need to give the full time job at 2nd to Franklin Barreto, strikes out prone or not… After all, he is only 22…
We still have Profar on the books for next year, I believe after next year it’ll be Barreto’s job to lose.
Or Mateo’s, if he survives today.
Profar is a good trade piece at the deadline. A team needing power like SF. Trade Profar for a bullpen piece.. A’s bullpen is way over worked by Melvin. Time to get another 2 relievers and cut loose Butcher.
I think we should hold onto Profar because he wouldn’t fetch anyone special given his play this year and I think we will see his play improve. I do agree with you in that we need at least one more bullpen arm after watching these last couple of games.
I think hunter pence will end up with the Rays or Braves by the end of the day. Would be nice to see Mazara end up with the other. Package those prospects with more and trade for Zack Greinke.
Let Calhoun and Scott Heineman play the corners with Choo going back to DH
Keep Minor and Lynn
Sign One of Gerrit Cole, Madison Bumgarner, Zack Wheeler, Jake Odorizzi, or Alex Wood
Let Jurado and Sampson continue to pitch this year in preparation for the 5th spot and depth next year.
Having Minor, Greinke, Lynn and one of those FA SP would look promising
Why would the Twins, a division leader in need of pitching, trade Odorizzi? Makes zero sense.
They wouldn’t. I said sign.. not trade for
He’s a free agent at the end of the year.
Trade for Greinke now.
Sign one of the mentioned free agents 5 months from now.
“Sign One of Gerrit Cole, Madison Bumgarner, Zack Wheeler, Jake Odorizzi, or Alex Wood“
All of those guys ^^^ are free agents in 5 months
I too like mlb the shows franchise mode.. lol
It’s the best lol
Man there are a whole lot of buyers, not a lot of sellers. I’m not liking the new rules. Looks like the deadline should be pushed back to mid August.
Brewers are not looking for a SS or 1B upgrade…
I could see them getting a better RH bat to platoon with Thames.
Jeff must have the morning shift. You’ve always been my favorite.
We say things are slow now. Watch 1:00pm comes and all hell breaks loose.
How many more 2b options do the A’s need?
Yeah i don’t agree with us needing another 2b as well, between Barreto, Pinder, and Profar I think we have plenty of options. Although Profar has been playing subpar I don’t think theres a need for us to go out and get someone else.
With Kipnis putting up an .858 OPS over the last month and a half, I don’t think that Cleveland needs a 2B upgrade.
Personally I would love to see Minor back with the Braves and they make a play for Wheeler. Those two can help the team over the edge. I do like the rivalry with the Nats and the Braves – thought it would be the Phillies and Braves duking it out, but the Nats and Braves rivalry is actually pretty cool. Now Mets???? Please get your stuff together, the NL East has the potential of being the best division in baseball, just have to get all the teams solid. Miami is a great AA affiliate for all of the NL East… LOL
5 hours to go. At least I have MLBTR to check obsessively while I’m stuck at the DMV.
I like the new trade deadline date as it puts more pressure on GM’s to think outside of the box by either tabbing into their farm system a lot sooner than expected to plug in some holes if they don’t like what is out in the market. Plus you now see more teams holding on to their pieces and for those on the outside looking in it still gives some fans hope to watch their team still intact while looking at 2020.
Whom would have thought Stroman to the Mets and Bauer to the Reds would have happened if they extended the trade deadline dates now these two teams although have to leapfrog a lot of teams for the wild card they are still trying to be competitive while gearing towards 2020 and that will only lead to exciting finishes in September rather than if the deadline was extended these two players would have been traded to the obvious Houston,Yankees, Dodgers etc and therefore September those teams would be tanking.
What cashman is pulling is a joke. This team is so shaky in sp it’s ridiculous. I understand future but 2 years of 95+ wins and no appearance in ws and we keep fortifying lineups.. he’s been great at putting this lineup together but the yanks haven’t had a true ace since Cc in 2009. We missed out on cliff lee.. mad max. Verlander. Corbin.. Gerrit Cole I mean come on man.. no team is gonna give the Yankees a discount.. nobody. We keep saying we have the next big star. And we do Aaron Judge. To me he is the only untouchable in pinstripes
I feel the asking price is always a tad higher when dealing with the Yankees but Cleveland did get a great haul for Bauer and how the Mets got stroman you knew being in the same division Toronto was going to ask for more. Yankees best bet now that almost all their targets are off the table barring MadBum gets traded is Robbie Ray but his control is not great and how would he handle the pressures of NYC. I feel at this point Yankees should bring up the kid Deivi Garcia bring him in as an Opener and see what he can provide.
I have a sense that Cashman may go for a reliever to strengthen the bullpen more a Greene,Vasquez or Bradley would be a great addition and if Severino comes back you can plug him in the Bullpen or as an opener to build strength but the Yankees are going to have to think outside of the Box their starting rotation is horrendous and right now with two trade candidates off the table things got a whole lot harder for the Yankees to upgrade their rotation from the outside.
Perplexing that the Astros haven’t addressed areas of concern such as backup catcher, SP or a LHRP or 2.
Mets have cheap owners and love getting money back on trades and Wilson Ramos looks like a big mistake. (Maybe Ramos can’t take the big market pressure). If the Astros take some or most of his salary they can probably get a discount on Wheeler as a package deal. Something tells me once Ramos is out of NY he’s going back to his career numbers.
Dodgers bp upgrade = Diaz and Familia
Mets cf,c upgrade = Will Smith and Pederson
San Diego upgrade SP = Wheeler
Mets upgraded BP/Sp. Stammen/ Morejon
Trade Ramos and Frazier for BP help
Surprised that the Rays are not in on Edwin Diaz.
Cardinals do need a #1 or even a #2 starter. They need a closer and they need Carpenter to remain on the bench to be a serious playoff contender. None of this will happen as long as John Mozeliak is in charge!!!!!